Tata Indicom offers money transfer service for the unbanked

Tata Indicom has partnered with Corporation Bank and Paymate, a wireless transactions enabler, to launch Green Money Transfer, which will allow transfer of money one person to the other using mobile phones.
Green Money Transfer is mainly targeted at people who don’t have bank accounts. The transfer service is facilitated by PayMate’s technology, Corporation Bank’s banking system and Tata’s PCO and True Value Shop (TVS) network.
Lloyd Mathias, chief marketing officer, Tata Teleservices Limited, told Telecom Yatra in a telephonic interview, “We are going to launch this service in Kerala and Mumbai in the first stage and will later hit all circles across India. There is immense potential in this sector as the number of unbanked people in the country is very huge.”
To use this service, customers need to register themselves at any Green Tata PCO, TVS or Corporation Bank outlet, after which they receive an mPIN that will be required to authorise the transaction. The sender can then hand over the cash at the selected outlet, which triggers an IVR (interactive voice response) call to him.
The sender then authorises the transaction by entering his mPIN and gets a transaction code on his mobile. The sender conveys the transaction code to the recipient, who goes to the nearest Tata PCO or TVS outlet and shares the code. The outlet then triggers an IVR call to the receiver, who enters his mPIN to authorise the transfer. After the verification, the outlet hands over the cash to the recipient.
At a time, a person can remit up to Rs 5000 using Green Money Transfer, which works across all types of handsets. The registration is free of cost and the service will be available to both urban and rural users.
Ajay Adiseshann, managing director and founder, PayMate said in a company statement, “With over Rs 600 billion (Rs 60,000 crore) being remitted across the country, this presents a great opportunity for all of us to tap into and we are confident that the service will redefine the way financial services are approached.”